Mom wants stricter security measures on Pittsburgh’s new scooters after her daughters is hospitalized
By Meghan Schiller
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Larimer mom is pleading for stricter safety measures surrounding the city of Pittsburgh’s new Spin e-scooters.
“I was in pure panic, shock. It was like a mother’s worst nightmare, not knowing if your child was okay,” said Roneka Floyd.
The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police confirmed to KDKA’s Meghan Schiller that police will now track all incidents involving the new scooters. The change allows police to collect hard data on citations and injuries.
They’re bright orange, easy to get rolling and caught 10-year-old Rhonay Edge’s eye.
“I was just thinking, ‘hmm, I see everyone else doing it, why don’t I give them a shot?’” she says.
It didn’t take long for this tech-savvy girl to figure out the app and get the scooter in motion.
“I signed up, I put my email and then that’s when they sent me a verification. I had to take questions, I answered them all correct,” said Edge.
Mom Roneka Floyd says her daughter didn’t even need to leave the street to find one.
“There’s one parked at the top of my grandparents’ street,” said Floyd.
The ride ended several streets away with Rhonay in the back of an ambulance.
“Around 9:30 in the morning, I got a call from the Pittsburgh paramedics,” said Floyd. “It told me my daughter was riding a Spin scooter and she got injured and was on her way to Children’s Hospital.”
Now Floyd wants to know if Spin – the company behind the scooters – can enforce stricter safety measures to protect kids.
“There’s no age verification, they don’t verify the identity of the person that’s getting on the scooter,” said Floyd.
Spin says riders must be at least 18 and should wear a helmet, but Floyd believes nothing stops a child from downloading.
Local hospitals tell KDKA they’re starting to see injuries. Two riders wound up in AGH’s Emergency Room in just the past few days.
“She said she was afraid to call because she thought she would be in trouble and grounded, which she is,” said Floyd.
“That’s one thing in my life that I regret doing because if I ended up worse, my mom would have been in her room crying,” said Edge.
In a statement, Spin says it’s working with Pittsburgh Police to stop underage scooter riding, terminating accounts if it has evidence of underage riding. You can report it too if you see it in your area.
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